Review - Nihilumbra (Wii U eShop)

More and more, successful games from other consoles have been coming to the Wii U's eShop. Nihilumbra (doing well on the PC and on iOS) is finally on the Wii U, but does its environment and 2D puzzle platforming do as well on this platform?

Nihilumbra follows the path of the main character, Born, who tries to find freedom from the Void from which he is born. On Born’s journey, different environments are passed through, each offering a new color for Born to use. These colors allow you to draw on the level, and each color has its own effect. For example, the first color which you’ll find in the Frozen Cliffs is blue, which allows you to make the ground slippery like ice. You can use this color to help you slide along faster and move boxes to solve puzzles with more ease. This, in conjunction with the other colors you’ll find, is where the puzzle aspect of this game comes into play. You’ll need to figure out which colors need to go where in order for you to progress. Luckily, each level is unique in its design and you the game builds upon itself in this way, so a knowledge of how to solve past puzzles will help you in later on in the game.

As you progress in the game, you’ll realize that the Void that Born left is trying desperately to reclaim you. While this happens, it is destroying the areas that you have passed through. Even as this is happening, you are trying to figure out exactly who and what Born is. Narration appears throughout the levels as text and a voice (though you can turn that off), sometimes warning Born and other times acting as a way of seeing what Born -- and by extent, you -- are going through. Is what you’re doing justified? Should you be running from the Void? These kinds of questions are brought up along with other philosophical questions that can make the player think. While it is certainly a different way of telling the story of Born, it works wonderfully with the game.

The artistic direction of this game helps convey an environmental feel that is great within Nihilumbra. The artsy and painted look of the graphics mixed with the mysterious and somewhat serious music blends to bring out a great environmental feel to the game, and we’d say it also helps with the tone of the story.

There are a few things aside from the main game that add more play time to the game. There are 24 achievements that you can get, some of which are can be really hard to find or accomplish. After you beat the main game, you unlock another whole mode that’s far more difficult than the main story mode. The puzzles there are more complex and can take a lot longer to figure out; the difficulty spike here is obvious, as the main game can be beaten in around 2-4 hours, but this mode can take twice as long depending on your skill level. As you play through the main game and extra mode, you’ll also unlock new art in the Art Gallery, which has various detailed art and concept art from the game’s development. With these extras in Nihilumbra, even after you beat the game, there’s plenty to keep you occupied.

Nihilumbra is certainly a game that’ll keep you glued to playing it with its thought-provoking story and mysterious but serious environment. Look no further than Nihilumbra for outstanding 2D puzzle platforming in a wonderful environment wrapped in an intriguing story.